IBM delivered better-than-expected fourth quarter results and said its generative AI business including consulting and software is now a $5 billion business, up from $3 billion in the third quarter.
IBM launched a series of Qiskit software services to go along with its IBM Quantum Heron-based systems. The effort comes as IBM aims to meld quantum computing and classical computing today while aiming for quantum advantage later.
IBM's third quarter was mixed as sales fell short of estimates, earnings were better-than-expected and the company said that its generative AI bookings were $3 billion.
IBM launched Granite 3.0 8B and 2B models under the Apache 2.0 license, new models designed for CPU-based deployments and edge computing and the next-generation of Watsonx code assistant.
IBM has installed its second-gen IBM Quantum Heron processors in its Poughkeepsie data center as it builds out its quantum infrastructure.
IBM is looking to give its IBM Z systems an AI and large language model (LLM) twist as it outlined its upcoming IBM Telum II Processor and IBM Spyre Accelerator for upcoming mainframes.
As for the outlook, IBM projected annual revenue growth in the mid-single digit range with free cash flow topping $12 billion.
IBM has open sourced its portfolio of Granite large language models under Apache 2.0 licenses on Hugging Face and GitHub, outlined a bevy of AI ecosystem partnerships and launched a series of assistants and watsonx powered tools.
The "Value Generation" partnership will focus on generative AI and industry cloud applications. SAP is trying to migrate its customer base to the cloud and S4/HANA via its RISE with SAP program.
IBM said it will acquire HashiCorp in a deal valued at $6.4 billion as it builds out its infrastructure and security lifecycle management tools to go along with its hybrid cloud and AI portfolio.
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said, "our book of business for watsonx and generative AI roughly doubled from the third to the fourth quarter."
For IBM, StreamSets and webMethods will give it more API management and data integration tools.
